Ram pal

Sport : Athletics - High Jump (T-47)

Date of Birth: : 10/7/1989

Hometown : Sonipat, Haryana

Current Training Base : SAI Sonipat

Nature of Disability : Single below elbow amputation

Rampal'S STORY

Born on 10th of July 1989, Ram pal hails from the farming fraternity in a remote village beyond Sonipat, Haryana. At the tender age of 4, he met with an unfortunate accident when his arm got caught in an agricultural chopper resulting in partial amputation of his right arm.

Always a sports enthusiast, Ram pal pursued sports in school and college, often training in high jump and casually competing with other able-bodied athletes. However unable to foresee much of a career in sport, he chose the usual route of education and post his higher secondary, Ram pal completed a Polytechnic Diploma. Subsequently over the next 5 years he also got himself three Bachelor’s Degrees, a B. A. (Bachelor of Arts), a B. Ed. (Bachelor of Education) and a B. Lib. (Bachelor of Library Sciences).

Ram pal’s life changed when he met fellow para athlete Amit Kumar Saroha, a quadriplegic club and discus thrower, a Paralympian and an Arjuna Awardee, who introduced Ram pal to the world of differently-abled or para sports. In 2013, after having worked a regular job and while pursuing sports in parallel, he quit to pursue high jump full time and soon went on to break the national record in his event.

In 2016, Ram pal took part in his very first international tournament at the IPC Grand Prix in Tunisia, winning the Gold Medal with a jump of 1.85m - a mark comfortably surpassing the ‘A’ qualification for Rio 2016, which stood at 1.65m. He subsequently underwent 45 days of high performance training in Ukraine under high jump coach, Nikitin Evgeny, prior to the Paralympics. Ram pal put in a strong showing at his first Games, finishing 6th in his event at the 2016 Rio Paralympics while recording a personal best of 1.93m.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Gold medal in High Jump at the 18th National Para Athletics Championships, 2018